Doing critical coaching research: issues and opportunities

Christopher Cushion

Chapter 20 in Handbook of Sport Coaching Research, 2026, pp 230-244 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter critically interrogates the foundations and trajectory of sport coaching research, challenging dominant techno-rational and positivist paradigms that have long shaped the field. Rather than offering prescriptive models or advocating best practices, it advances a socially critical agenda that reconsiders coaching as a complex, relational, and contextually embedded practice. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical concepts (e.g., habitus, field, strategy), I problematise the common-sense and often vacuous use of the term “coaching” in scholarly and practical domains. I argue that coaching is not merely a collection of observable behaviours or competencies, but a socially situated and performative practice shaped by power, history, and cultural logics. The chapter calls for a reinvigorated commitment to theoretical sophistication and methodological depth in coaching scholarship, urging researchers to embrace reflexivity, engage with the everyday realities of coaching, and disrupt the orthodoxy of “what works” narratives. Through this lens, coaching is reimagined as an intellectual and disruptive activity, whose understanding requires deep engagement with theory, critical analysis, and a rethinking of the researcher's role in generating knowledge that genuinely informs and transforms practice.

Keywords: Bourdieu; Strategies; Theory; Critical research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035341634
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